New Traveller family now wait to discover fate - Somerset

A GYPSY family's future is hanging in the balance after an appeal for them to remain on a 12-acre site near Bruton was heard on Tuesday.

The plans for two Traveller pitches at Hadspen Quarry were initially blocked by the council and have split the community.

Objectors fear the land could be overrun if it is made an official Gypsy site, while support has come from Castle Cary Primary School.

Planning inspector Mark Dakeyne listened to objectors and the applicant, district councillor Henry Hobhouse, who hopes to turn his 12-acre land at Green Lane into a permanent traveller site.

Although one caravan has moved off the land since plans were thrown out last year, a second caravan occupied by a couple and their 10-year-old daughter remains. Refusal was made on the grounds of no permanent water supply, safety at a junction accessing the land and sustainability.

Mr Hobhouse says the family has become an established part of the community and forcing them off the land would disrupt their daughter's education.

"The couple have been there since the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, arriving in a bus where they lived," he said.

"When their daughter was born in 2005, they moved into a caravan on the land.

"Annie cleans the local church and village hall and her partner works for me and for Michael Eavis during the Glastonbury Festival. He works all over the country erecting other festival tents.

"The couple have historically travelled to make a living but settled when their daughter was born."

The family will be forced off the land if the appeal against the council's decision fails.

Their daughter attends Castle Cary Primary School and a petition of more than 70 signatures supporting the application has been collected by head teacher Jane Evans.

When objectors questioned the family's right to be called Travellers, Mr Hobhouse said the family lived outdoors in a caravan by choice.

Planning inspector Mr Dakeyne said: "Lots of people go to the Glastonbury Festival but that does not give them the right to call themselves Travellers."

A duty under the 2004 Housing Act requires local authorities to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies, Travellers and Showpeople, and to make adequate provision for them through the planning process.

South Somerset District Council has approved six new Traveller sites and three more are being considered, with ten required by 2015.

Protesters include nearest site neighbours, Rob and Lucy Comer at Hadspen Quarry.

"We are all worried that if this goes ahead it will set a precedent," said Mr Comer.

"If the council's requirement to provide more Traveller pitches increases in future, a pitch of this size would lend itself to expansion, either legally or illegally."

Pitcombe Parish Council chairman John Knight is concerned an incident 15 years ago on the land involving Travellers could be repeated.

He said: "There is considerable opposition in the village to the establishment of a traveller site at Higher Hadspen Quarry. Twenty-two caravans turned up en masse after the Glastonbury music festival one year and it took the authorities around five years to clear them all off the land."

Mr Hobhouse insisted any Travellers wishing to move on to his land in future would need permission first.

This was supported by revealing his previous efforts to remove illegal settlers.

"I do not and will not accept illegal Travellers coming onto my land," he said.

"I accept there have been incidents in the past, but when caravans tried to move onto the land in 2002, I physically removed them myself.

"I got a tractor and towed all 14 of them into a lay-by. The police tried to stop me as the vehicles had no road tax or insurance, but as they had no warrant I carried on until they were all off the site."

The county council highways department is concerned over the site entrance, stating a required 160-metre visibility for vehicles pulling out on to the main road is not achievable.

A final decision from the planning inspector is expected within three weeks.

See also: Family fears a 'tide of Gypsies'